How life can change – update for my friends

A year ago I was still working, going to all kind of techie conferences and meeting all the friends I made during my time at O’Reilly and 2nd Quadrant. Today things are completely different: I am learning to stay at home (a very difficult learning curve). I very often feel like a headless chicken. Being retired, I have no structure to my day – it feels that I have got all the time in the world to accomplish nothing and that’s what happened: I accomplished nothing. I suppose that’s OK for a few months, but I did not want my life to be without an aim, with nothing to do except dusting (which I am pretty bad at).

What do I do?

• Piano: my daughter is teaching me. I have to get used to C, D, E etc. instead of the missed Do, Re, Mi … I am slowly getting there and the very abridged version of “Ode to Joy” is becoming a ‘joy’ to play.
• Allotment: I have a small plot in the village where I grow lots of courgettes. My courgette cake is a well-recognised and liked cake among my neighbours.
• Yoga: Once a week I go for a stretch at the local school.
• I also tried to learn Spanish but the local language school is no longer providing adult tuition so back to Duolingo on my phone. Better than nothing I suppose.
• Dog walking: every weekday, I help a neighbour walking her dogs (she has 11 German Spitzes and one Chow – I have got only Deegan and he is the best).

Going for a walk

Resting in the sun

But I need more:

Today I joined U3A – yes, you guessed it, this is the University of the Third Age. Please laugh quietly as it is very upsetting to know that one is old. What will I do there? I am opting for something practical and hopefully I will find something good for my brain.

I hope there is enough variety to keep me amused and sane.